


A Little Late

by echowolfM



Category: Batman (Comics), Catwoman (Comics), Gotham City Sirens (Comics), Harley Quinn (Comics), Poison Ivy (Comics)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24137095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echowolfM/pseuds/echowolfM
Summary: It's the day after Mother's Day, and Selina knows Ivy could use a little company.(Set after Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death and DC Trinity)
Relationships: Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	A Little Late

**Author's Note:**

> I just want Ivy to have a happy ending for once in her poor life.

Selina was with Bruce when her phone buzzed.

**[Did you hear from Pammy yesterday?]**

It was from Harley, and for a moment Selina feared she had forgotten something.

**[No, I didn’t. was I supposed to?]**

**[Not really. It’s just that Mother’s Day was yesterday. Just a little worried about her, ya know?]**

_Oh._

“Is something wrong?” Bruce asked as he sat up in bed, noticing her change in mood immediately.

“I didn’t realize yesterday was Mother’s Day.” She quickly flicked to google on her phone and put in an order for a rush delivery on some fancy fruit basket.

“Forget to text someone?” He teased.

**[Wanna come check on her with me?]**

Harley and Selina always seemed to be on the same wavelength when it came to Ivy’s mental health. For the most part, the woman could take care of herself, but there were just some days that they both knew a little extra help would be needed.

“Forgot to visit, is more like it.” Selina shot Harley a quick text about picking her up in a couple hours.

She and Bruce did their usual morning routine, washing up and dressing leisurely despite the nagging in the back of her mind that told her to hurry up. She thanked Alfred for his assistance ruffled Damian’s hair, and blew Bruce a kiss as she got into her car.

She picked up Harley at the Blonde’s apartment. The younger woman had gone shopping apparently, and had bags full of ice cream, cookie dough, and DVDs. She even had a little potted plant in her lap for good measure.

“She’s probably still workin’ in her greenhouse right now, so I was thinkin’ we could sneak in her back window and get everything set up in the living room. When she comes back in she’ll be so surprised!” Despite her cheery smile, Selina could see Harley was worried.

“Sounds like a plan, Harls. I’m sure she’ll love it.” The brunet couldn’t deny that she was worried as well.

It was coming up on a year now since Ivy’s three daughters had left. This would have been the first year Ivy celebrated Mother’s Day as a mother, but instead her children were gone, and honestly probably dead at this point.

Selina remembered that call from Harley well.

_“Kitty, she’s just so broken.” Harley’s voice was weak, as if she had been crying as well. “She’s just been sleeping all the time, and- you won’t believe this, she asked **me** to water her orchids. Me! I don’t know what to do…”_

_“You’re a psychologist, Harley.” Selina had been across the country when she had gotten her friend’s call for help. “And her best friend. You are probably the only person on this planet that can help her right now. Has she said anything about Darshan?”_

_“Keep yer voice down, Kitty!” She hissed through the receiver and Selina could tell she was moving to a different room. It suddenly sounded windy, so she guessed Harley had moved to the balcony. “He’s gone from tentative friend to top of her hit list. He’s come around a few times but keeps catching her while she’s asleep and I turn him away. Too bad she can fuckin’ smell him or somethin’ when she wakes up. She’ll get all pissy and shit, but then she’ll just suddenly loose all her steam and go back to bed.”_

By the time Selina made it back to Gotham, Ivy had snuck out during the night and was missing for two weeks and three days exactly. Selina and Harley counted the hours as they tore the city apart looking for her, terrified she was about to do something stupid to herself or any poor soul who got in her way.

Selina sure as hell wasn’t expecting Bruce to call her and ask her to pick up Ivy from his estate. He explained later that Ivy had been manipulated by a plant that created perfect dream worlds for its victims. She had stumbled into a monster called Mongol’s dream, and found and cared for the child that lived there. But when Mongol discovered her presence he ripped her away from the dream, and Ivy had gone looking for the child that was taken from her.

She had expected Ivy to be an even bigger mess than before, but she apparently had no recollection of this dream child. According to Bruce, the child had grown sentience and wiped her mind of the dreams to spare her any more pain.

Selina was glad for that, because even after that Ivy was seemingly an empty shell of herself. Hollow in a way that frightened both Selina and Harley. But day by day, she began to heal. She knew the hole in Ivy’s heart would never be filled again, but the wound was healing. It was a solid month before the green skinned woman genuinely smiled at anything, and another three weeks before they all had a real laugh together after some heist went horribly wrong.

But even after all this time, Selina knew it only took one wrong word on one wrong day to tear that hole open again.

She just hoped Ivy hadn’t been lying on her bed bleeding her heart out without them. As she pulled into a parking space near Ivy’s apartment building, a familiar colored mohawk caught her eye. She ushered the blonde to go ahead before stalking up to the man.

“You’ve got a lot of fuckin’ nerve to come to her around this time of year.” Selina’s darkened voice made the man jump, and he nearly dropped the small bundle of what looked like cards in his hand.

He blinked at her, trying to discern where he knew her from. “You’re… one of Pam’s friends?”

She was almost offended that he had forgotten her. Selina was the one who checked on him when Ivy went MIA, worried she had gone off and killed the man in cold blood. Though she knew he did Ivy’s girls a favor, letting them go out and see the world for themselves, he had caused the redhead too much pain and grief for logic to rule her head.

Her voice dripped with malice. “What are you doing here? You’ve got a death wish or something?”

“No! No, no,” He waved his hands in surrender before himself, offering up the bundle to her. “I was just trying to get the courage to give Pam these.”

“You really think she’ll want your…” she checked the top of the bundle. “Postcards?”

“I think she’ll appreciate them. I got them in the mail yesterday, but I didn’t find them until late last night. I uhh… was having dinner with my mom. Had I known they were coming, I would have given them to her as soon as they came in.”

Selina looked at the bundle with new eyes, and took the cards from his hands as if they were made of delicate glass. “You… _just_ got these?”

“Yeah,” His smile was huge. “I didn’t look at any of them, though. I know I’m an asshole, but I’m not _that_ kind of an asshole.”

Selina knew deep down Darshan had done right by those girls. Pamela was a good mother to them, but no human mother was ready to give up her children after only a few months. Too bad her children weren’t born human, and when she held onto them too tightly, they had taken their only chance at a life beyond Poison Ivy’s home. And beyond Gotham as well.

“You still need to stay away from her. She’s better than she was, but she’s still Poison Ivy. She’ll kill you on sight if she ever sees you again.”

His face fell a little, but he steeled himself, standing a little taller. “I know. Just tell her I said sorry again, okay?”

“I lied to her once, you know,” Selina gave him an even look. “I’m not doing that again.”

His jaw clenches, but he nods and begins to make his way down the street.

Selina lets out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding when he is out of sight. She looks down at the bundle of postcards and can see a few sealed letters sticking out of the pages as well. If Ivy wasn’t broken up about Mother’s Day now, she certainly was going to be destroyed by this.

She keeps to Harley’s plan and sneaks in the back. She quickly informs the Blonde of what happened and tries to ignore the anger in the clown’s eyes that she missed the opportunity to bash Darshan upside the head with a bat for daring to come around after Mother’s Day.

They change their plans a little. Harley sets up a nest of blankets and pillows in Ivy’s living room while Selina stows away the snacks and takes inventory of Ivy’s fridge for dinner later. The movies are left in the bags and the bundle is placed on the table to not be forgotten.

They wait for exactly thirty minutes for Ivy to come in. She is clearly surprised and pleased to see them, but Selina can see a tiredness in her eyes.

“Heya, Red!” Harley flings herself into Ivy’s arms, wrapping her in a big hug. It isn’t one of the Blonde’s signature hugs though, and Ivy notices right away that something was off.

“I ran into Darshan on the way here.” Selina began tentatively. Sometimes Ivy’s mood swings terrified her. In one moment, she was concerned, about to ask Harley what was wrong as the clown pulled back from the embrace, and then the next her eyes were burning with rage. “He gave me something to give to you.”

“I don’t want _anything_ from him.” Her voice is dangerous and seething. Even Harley cowers away from her.

“It’s not from _him_.” She explains, taking the bundle of postcards from the table and offering them to Ivy. “It’s from them.”

The rage is slow to melt away, but it eventually does and becomes a mixture of nervousness and… hope? Selina thinks it’s hope. She’s never seen Ivy hopeful before.

Tentatively, she takes the bundle of letters from Selina’s hands, and Harley guides Ivy to the couch. Selina sits on one side of the green woman, while Harley sits on the other, wanting to make sure Ivy was metaphorically and physically surrounded by support. She unties the string holding the letters together, and takes one from the top of the pile. It’s a picture of the Great Wall, and when she flips it on the back Selina only allows herself to skim. It’s dated to a few weeks ago, and signed by three different names in three different styles.

Rose’s name is flowery and dainty, while Hazel’s is elegant and strong. Thorn’s is sharp and a little rough, but they fit the three girls so perfectly Selina has to hold back a laugh. She wished she could have known the girls more than that one day. She wished she had visited more often after learning of their existence.

Ivy goes through the postcards slowly, leaving the full letters for later as she walked back in time through her daughters’ adventures. Occasionally, there would be a custom postcard where the girls would be standing before some monument or museum. Ivy looked at those for far longer than the other ones, placing them in a separate pile when she was finally ready to move on to the next.

When they had reached the last postcard, Ivy hesitated, looking at the stack of letters she had put aside. Selina could feel that the woman was drained. Her shoulders slumped and her elbows rested on her knees as she looked at the coffee table before them.

“Do you wanna take a break, Pam?” Harley asked carefully.

Ivy hadn’t spoken in almost an hour now, and still she just shook her head lightly, taking up the first card on the pile. It was dated to just a few days after the girls had left. Her hands were shaking as she opened the letter and pulled out three papers, each one in a different handwriting style.

She read through Hazel’s letter first. If Selina’s memory was to be trusted, Hazel was born first and was more reserved than her sisters. Ivy described Hazel as an intelligent and focused girl, who loved to dance and tease her sisters.

Ivy was shaking when she moved on to Rose’s letter. She described her second oldest daughter as sweet and gentle, but also easily excitable and bubbly. Ivy said she reminded her of a toned down Harley, which the blonde took as the greatest compliment in the world. Rose apparently would have been Ivy’s ‘mini me’ when the woman was younger, less jaded, and not drowning in trauma.

Quiet tears rolled down Ivy’s cheeks as she took up Thorn’s letter. Selina remembered that girl well. It was jarring to stumble upon the child, so frightened and terrorized by the men that created her. She remembered how Thorn wordlessly fell into Ivy’s arms, holding onto the redhead tightly as if she were her only lifeline.

Ivy said that the girl was deeply scarred by her time in that place, though she had repressed most of her memories. Having no experience in healing any other trauma but her own, Ivy did her best to push those bad times away with good ones and Thorn’s spirits up. Ivy was saddened to say that Thorn was the most like her out of the three. She was hurt by man’s world, and held deep resentment because of it.

Selina knew Ivy was finished with the letter when a small sob escaped her lips.

Harley wrapped her arms around the redhead, holding her tightly as Selina rubbed her back. Burying her face in her hands, the green skinned woman let out another strangled sob.

“Don’t you dare hold back,” Selina leaned against Ivy, wrapping one arm around her torso while her other hand gripped her knee. “It’s okay, Pamela. It’s okay to cry.”

And cry she did.

It was long and ugly, but Selina didn’t judge her for it. Together, Harley and her held Ivy until the tears stopped and she was only slightly trembling in their grip.

Harley kissed her hair sweetly and Selina grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch to dry Ivy’s cheeks.

It took the rest of the day to work through all the letters. It didn’t matter to Selina. Ivy needed them that day and she was only too glad to support one of her friends. When the last letter was read, she could see this weight seemingly lift off the redhead’s shoulders.

“They’re going around Asia right now,” Ivy spoke for the first time since they arrived. “But if they’re still alive once they’re done in Japan they’ll come back to Gotham for a visit.”

“That’s amazin’, Pam!” Harley hugged her tightly. “They’ve made it this long, they’re totally gonna make it back. Oh, this is so exciting! You gotta let me meet them!”

Ivy’s smile was contagious as she nodded. “If they make it.”

“Based on those pictures, they stopped aging so fast. They look about twenty now. Jesus, how do you think they got passports?” Selina asked, trying to lighten the mood a little more.

“Probably like every other law-abiding lab-made children of a wanted criminal?” Harley said sarcastically. “They found a guy who knows a guy.”

Selina snorted at that, but noticed Pamela had taken up one of the pictures that had been stuffed in the envelope along with the last letters.

“Gonna add them to the wall?” Harley asked, kissing her cheek.

Ivy nodded and stood on shaky legs. Selina got up as well and stretched, a massive yawn taking over her entire body for a moment as the woman disappeared around the corner to her room.

“Well, that went well.” Harley sighed, leaning back on the couch and dabbing at her eyes.

“I’m glad things are working out with them.” Selina found herself still smiling after Ivy.

“It was a little late, but I think this might be the best Mother’s Day gift Ivy could have ever received.”

Selina nodded in agreement, heading into the kitchen to see what she and Ivy could whip up for dinner. When Ivy returned, Harley clung tightly to her waist as they moved through the kitchen. No one spoke. No one needed to. They just continued putting together their meal in silence until Ivy snapped her head around so fast Selina thought she might have given herself whiplash.

“What is it, Daffodoll?” Harley followed Ivy’s line of sight to the elevator that led up to Ivy’s apartment. “Someone about to knock?”

Ivy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “It’s your boyfriend, Selina… and someone else.”

“Batsy? Should I grab my bat?” The clown looked rearing for a fight after all those depressing letters. Selina was half tempted to let her swing at him for the sudden intrusion on a day like today, but Ivy had this strange look on her face.

She approached the elevator warily and let Batman and whoever his guest was up, but not without stirring the plants around the doors to life.

When the doors opened, Selina wasn’t sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t a blue skinned girl with white hair and golden eyes who looked to be around ten holding Batman’s hand.

“Pamela, I need your help.” Like usual, the Dark Knight cut right to the chase. “This is… Mercy. She says she can speak to the Green, and appears to be made of some sort of vegetation. I thought you might be able to help her navigate this world, given that you two are so similar.”

Ivy was a little stunned, but she hadn’t taken her eyes off the child. Selina wondered if they were communing through the Green, like Ivy had with Thorn. Carefully, the little girl stepped forwards, and Ivy offered her a hand.

The girl took it as Ivy got down on her knees before her, gingerly touching the little braided plant bracelet on the girl’s right wrist.

Selina took her eyes off the display for a moment to look at Batman, who was also watching the two intently. It was then that she remembered Ivy’s fourth child. A child born of a plant’s dream that the redhead had taken under her wing. She looked to the little girl again, who was smiling at Ivy.

Harley was watching them in both confusion and interest, and Selina couldn’t help but lean over to her. “I think Batman’s gift just became a close second.”

“No kiddin,” Harley whispered. “Still a little late, though.”

Selina watched as Ivy pulled the girl into a hug, and the child sank into her arms as if she had just come home.

“I don’t think she minds.”

**Author's Note:**

> For those that don't know, In Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death, Ivy creates two plant/human hybrid children for herself, and when her research is stolen and used, she adopts her third daughter, Thorn.  
> Ivy's an overprotective mom though, and after shenanigans her friend Darshan helps the girls run away and experience life, leaving Ivy alone.
> 
> Trinity takes place sometime soon after Cycle of Life and Death where- bear with me here, Poison Ivy stumbles into the dream world of Mongol, created by the alien plant, the Black Mercy. Mongol's dream gives him a daughter, which Ivy stumbles upon and decides to care for. When Mongol discovers Ivy's presence, he manipulates her using the child, promising to help her bring the child into the real world. It works, but the child must be in possession of someone else's body.  
> Not wanting to take anyone's life away from them, the child wipes Ivy's memory of her and seemingly disappears where she later forms a symbiotic relationship with some sort of alien spore, creating a body for herself so she can truly exist in the real world.


End file.
